


Unpredictability in A Complex System

by Dragongoddess13



Series: Tumblr Prompts [35]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Leverage Fusion, Alternate Universe - Thieves, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-06-09 05:57:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6892852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragongoddess13/pseuds/Dragongoddess13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“That son of a bitch tried to kills us.” she growled, still pacing the floor of the warehouse. “And worse, he didn’t even pay us.”</p><p>“How is that worse?” Jefferson Jackson questioned confused, flinching when Sara turned a glare on him.<br/>-<br/>-<br/>-<br/>A series of short stories based on the TV series Leverage on TNT.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Job

Sara was fuming, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. Fury painted her face with hard lines and harder eyes. She was ready to strike, ready to fight, ready to hurt someone or something; to lash out with all the anger building up at her very core.

Leonard however, was not as affected. It wasn’t everyday he was bested and when he was, he tended to take it as a challenge to better himself instead of a loss. Sara was making it quite clear that she did not feel the same way.

“That son of a bitch tried to kills us.” she growled, still pacing the floor of the warehouse. “And worse, he didn’t even pay us.”

“How is that worse?” Jefferson Jackson questioned confused, flinching when Sara turned a glare on him.

Felicity shifted uncomfortable across the room, her fingers flying across the keyboard of her laptop. “Nothing, I should have seen it. These digital watermarks are only skin deep, these weren’t stolen from him, he tricked us into stealing them for him.”

Damien Dahrk owned one of the largest investment firms in the world and had tracked down each and everyone of them in the hopes that they could help him “retrieve” something that he claimed had been stolen from him. Sara Lance, Internationally known as the White Canary for her preference in said bird to fool un-hackable motion sensors. Jefferson Jackson, aka Jax, young grifter and master mechanic. Felicity Smoak aka overwatch, youngest hacker in history and a bit of do gooder. Mick Rory, hitter, bad temper and even worse attitude. And then there was Leonard Snart, the brains, the mastermind if you will, the one person out of the entire group who could see every angle; the whole picture beyond each individual job.

Jax started out grifting to help his mother put food on the table and pay the bills after his father’s death overseas and Felicity just liked to do the right thing; she seemed to get a kick out of it, so it made sense that they were both a little upset at Darhk’s double cross. It didn’t matter though, whether they got their revenge because he hurt innocent people or because they wanted their own brand of revenge, they would stop him.

Sara was still fuming though, and Leonard knew he had to get her to cool down before he could use her skills in the field. “Look,” he began, jumping down from his perch on an old crate. “I know you’re angry and you have every reason to be, but we need your head in the game and it won’t be where we need it if you’re too angry to think clearly.”

Piercing blue eyes turned on him “I don’t like when people mess with my money. It makes me sad, in my special angry place.”

Leonard was not too proud to admit the demented look on her face was both terrifying and gods help him, hot. “Fine, how about this. Punch me in the face as hard as you can if it’ll make you feel better.”

He’d barely finished the offer before her fist met his jaw, sending him flying back into the crate. “Fuck!” he exclaimed holding a hand over the already forming bruise. Mick’s gleeful laughter the only sound in the otherwise tense silence. He glared up at her.

“What? You told me too.” she defended.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t actually think you would.” she smirked at that, clearly taking her unpredictability as a compliment.

“Cheer up pretty boy, I’m sure it’ll heal without scarring.”

Mick’s laughter got louder as he stalked over to them. “Not bad blondie.” he smacked her on the back before walking passed.

Jax sighed, dropping his head in his hands. “We’re all screwed aren’t we?” he groaned. Felicity didn’t respond, simply patting him on the back in a comforting manner

xXx

  
 

 

 


	2. The Juror #6 Job

The Juror #6 Job

xXx

“I’m not doing that.” Jax said with an air of finality in his voice. Sara sighed harshly rolling her eyes. 

“Would you relax it’s perfectly safe.” she told him. Jax gave her a look that clearly stated he didn’t believe her. 

“Guys, you have guards headed your way.” Felicity’s voice sounded over the coms. 

“It’s now or never Jax.” Leonard’s voice followed. Jax looked down over the side of the building (read: skyscraper) passed where Sara was connected to a complicated rigging, that if he really thought about it he’d have no doubt was very safe. That however, did not convince him that jumping off one of the tallest buildings in the city was a good idea. 

“How many guards?”

“Six.” Felicity answered quickly. Jax looked to sara. 

“We can totally take them.” he told her, panicking just a bit more as she connected him to the rigging as well. 

“And then what Jax, who are you going to get back down to ground level, the whole building is on red alert.” Mick added, the sounds of fighting in the background. 

“What about you?” Jax questioned his arguments wearing thin. 

“It’s taking everything I have to get myself out, no way I can make it back up there and then back down again.” 

“Come on.” Leonard called out through the coms. “I know it’s not ideal but you know we would never let anything happen to you, kid” 

“I know that. I just---” his sentence was cut off by his blood curdling scream. 

“Jax!” Felicity exclaimed in concern. Within minutes his screams stopped and his heavy breathing punctuated every statement. 

“I hate you! I can’t believe you just did that! I will never forgive you for this Sara! Never!”

“It worked didn’t it.” she replied her own breath a bit labored with the exhilaration.

Leonard and Felicity shared a look.

“Sara, did you… just push Jax off the building?” Leonard questioned.

“Yes! She pushed me! She pushed me off the damn building! I think I need to change my pants.” 

“Sara.” Leonard sighed exasperated. 

“Hey, it worked didn’t it?” 

“She’s insane.” they heard Mick grunt. Within minutes the back doors to the van opened and thief, hitter and grifter jumped in. Leonard slid in behind the wheel and drove off, leaving a successful job behind them.

xXx

“I don't know what you're complaining about. You would have had to jump anyway, I just took away your chance to overthink it.” Sara defended as the group trailed into the office together. 

“You pushed me off a building Sara, how can you be so casual about it?” Jax exclaimed. 

“Because it wasn’t like I threw you off the building without a safety net. You were in a harness, attached to a rigging that I designed myself. You were perfectly safe.” she explained.

“You don’t know that. That rig could have broken down and you wouldn’t have known until they were scrapin’ me up off the sidewalk.”

“More like wet vaccing.” Mick muttered as he passed earning himself a glare and a muttered “not helping” from Felicity.

“I used that rig to hoist a marble statue out of the Louvre and myself along with it. Trust me, you were perfectly safe.” 

“Trust you? You pushed me off a building!” 

“Why do you keep fixating on that? I got us out didn’t I?” Sara questioned rhetorically. She turned on her heels and stormed away. 

“I...I ….I can’t...I just can’t.” Jax stuttered turning to Leonard, eyes wide, mouth hanging open like the words just wouldn’t come out. 

“Okay.” Leonard placated, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll talk to her, just… go, try to calm down.” 

Jax sighed, turning to leave when sara came back in. “Hey, we’re getting someone else’s mail. Someone named Tara White.” 

“That’s you.” Felicity told her. “One of the aliases I created for you.” She continued taking the envelope as Sara held it out. 

“Jury Duty?” Mick questioned. 

“Damn, I am good.” Felicity said grinning proudly. 

“Good for you, get me out of it.” Sara told her turning on her heels and walking toward the door. 

“No.” Leonard replied stopping her in her tracks. 

“What?”

“No, no, I think you should go.” He continued. “See, on a jury you have to interact with other people, listen and take into account their points of view.” he paused. “No, you’re definitely going to go.” 

“Like hell I am.”

xXx

She felt ridiculous. Hell, she looked ridiculous, but watching Leonard work the courtroom was worth all of it. She’d started Jury duty unwillingly, Tara White, beautician, was not someone  Sara had ever wanted to be, but on that first day it had become increasingly apparent that something was amiss. She spotted three surveillance cameras that shouldn’t have been there and a quick visual check of one of the lawyers revealed an earwig similar to their crew’s. 

She’d returned to the office afterward and told Leonard what she’d seen, what she thought was happening. Leonard as well as Mick and Felicity sort of brushed her off, not in a mean way though, more as if they were talking to a child; placating her. Leonard informed her that there wasn’t some nefarious plot hiding behind every court case. Sara shook her head and rolled her eyes walking away and not for the first time, wondering what the hell she was doing on this team. 

“You know, as much as I hate to defend her right now, she’s never done that before.” Jax began in her absence, wiping motor grease from his hands on an equally greasy rag.

“Done what?” Mick questioned. “Let her temper get the best of her? She does that all the time.”

“No, she’s never asked for our help before. It’s not really in her nature to ask for help. You know.” he shrugged, turning away and heading for his office in the back. 

Leonard was silent as he watched Sara pacing back and forth across the hall in her own office. She was getting that nervous, jittery vibe. The kind she only got when she was thinking about running, like the walls were closing in on her and she needed space to breathe.

He sighed. “Felicity, what can you pull up on this case?” 

Felicity looked up from her laptop, taking a moment to process the sudden request. “Um, hold on.” she turned back to her computer, typing away quickly. On the monitors up on the wall she displayed her findings. “It’s a lawsuit against a mid sized pharmaceuticals company. The plaintiff is alleging that said company’s product is the reason her otherwise healthy husband died of heart attack suddenly last year. The founder and CEO of the company, is Dr. Anthony Ivoh.”

Leonard studied the information in front of him, blocking out everything around him. After a few moments he turned to Mick. “Follow the defense’s lawyer, I want to know where he’s going and who he’s meeting with.”

Mick sighed, standing from his seat. “If you're sure boss.” he replied. 

“Take Sara with you.”

That little trip had proven that Sara’s suspicions were true. The lawyer was working, not for Dr. Ivoh, but for a woman name Isabel Rochev, a corporate heiress who made the mistake of investing in Ivoh’s company with the intention of buying it. Of course that was before the lawsuit and now, should Ivoh’s company be found liable her investment would be worthless. 

They started with the Jury foreman, bought and paid for by Rochev. Getting rid of him was surprisingly easy. A show of hands put Sara in that position. Isabel didn’t take the loss of her ace in the hole lying down and the next thing they knew the Plaintiff's lawyer was gone. And that’s where Leonard came in. 

Add this to the list of things they didn’t know about their mastermind; apparently Leonard Snart went to Law school, graduated top of his class and passed the bar exam. As far as the world was concerned he was a certified lawyer. (They wouldn’t find out until later why he no longer practiced or why he turned to a life of crime)

Now Leonard stood before the jury, addressing them with his closing arguments. “I bet a lot of you cringed when you got that envelope in the mail. You know the one, a summons, very official.” he joked and the jury chuckled. “And I’m sure some of you probably tried to get out of it, obviously you didn’t. Some of you may have thought this was a waste of your time but you came anyway, not just because it's required, but maybe because you felt a sense of duty. So you came and you met eleven other people who probably felt the same way you did.” he looked to Sara as he continued. “And I bet you realized it wasn’t so bad, maybe you even made a friend.” he paused. “ Now, we all know time is precious, it always has been, it always will be and no one knows that better than Mrs. Hynes.” he gestured to the client. “All her husband wanted was more time. Time to be with his family, time to better his life and life for his family. So he took a supplement, a little something to help him get through the day, a boost to give him more time.” his expression turned morose. “But didn’t give him more time, no, it stole what time he had left and now his family; his wife and children, are left to ask the question “What if”. What if I had more time?” 

Felicity worked her magic on the deliberation room cameras and Isabel believed every minute of it, buying Ivoh’s company out from under him moments before the jury found in favor of the Plaintiff. Sara had to admit the gobsmacked look on Isabel’s face was extremely satisfying. 

xXx

“I’m sorry I pushed you off the roof.” Sara said softly, head leaning back against the back of the sofa, her feet propped up on the coffee table. Across the small sitting room, Jax was sitting in an arm chair, a beer in one hand the remote control for the television in the other. He looked away from the television where he was surfing the channels and smiled sardonically at her. 

“I’m sorry I got mad at you for pushing me off the building. I know you were just trying to help.” he replied. She shrugged. 

“Still, I could have been a bit more delicate.” she told him.

Jax chuckled turning off the TV and standing from his seat. “Maybe, but, I wasn’t exactly making it easy to be delicate.” 

With that Jax turned and left leaving Sara to sit in silence alone. Not long after Jax left Leonard came in, watching her as he took Jax’s previous place. 

“You did good out there, Sara.” he told her, his bright blue eyes shining with an emotion that had been growing from the moment they met and Sara wasn’t ready to face just yet. She took a deep breath and looked away from the intensity of it. 

“So, you were a lawyer huh?” she began almost teasingly, desperate to do anything to take the edge off. “How the hell did you end up here? I bet that’s an interesting story.”

Sensing her tactics, Leonard smirked, looking away himself. “It’s about as interesting as the missing, and presumed dead daughter of a Police Chief become a world class thief.” 

Sara rolled her head to look across the room at him. “Stories for another time then.”     


	3. The Long Road Home Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Where are you headed?"  
> "Let's see how hard you look."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one just kind of came to me and it kind of deviates from the show. I'm going to post flashback chapters eventually that will explain some of the stuff their talking about including Sara and Leonard's pasts. There's also a good chance that some of these chapters will be out of order from the show.

The Long Road Home Job

xXx

Striking blue eyes roamed the club, pulsing lights changing colors as the music blared on. This wasn’t his scene but he was determined to find his target.

_ “Where are you headed?” _

The song changed to something slower as Leonard came to a halt on the landing above the dance floor. He looked from body to body trying to discern one specific woman from the mass of bodies.

_ “Let’s see how hard you look.”  _

And then, like a beacon a spotlight lit up from the ceiling, highlighting her in the crowd. Her back was to him, hips moving with the beat in a sensuous pattern. He dared not look away in fear of losing her again.

They’d gone their separate ways three months prior. A big job, the big job had been finished and they needed to lie low, something they couldn’t do so long as they stayed together. After a year of working together, of helping people in a way they couldn’t as individuals, they were hard pressed to walk away from each other. Felicity handed out tickets and documents, whatever they needed to get away, and they picked up their bags and… hesitated. 

_ “It’s not forever.” he told them. “Just long enough for the heat to die down.” he paused catching Sara’s eye. “We’ll find each other again.” _

He’d begun the search for her the minute he got settled. She’d spent years hiding from her past, from the people who cared about her, so it wasn’t easy. She’d covered her trail through six countries, but with each location something had gone missing from secure rooms, vaults that had never been cracked before The Canary came along. And then she did something Leonard hadn’t seen coming. 

She went home. 

_ “You’re too talented to throw it all away like this. Don’t let yourself get dragged down baby girl.” _

_ “I broke up with him for a reason Sara. You’re too good for him, to good to let him put you through the shit he put me through.” _

Home to Star City, where her father and sister were waiting with open arms, just glad to have her back. They didn’t care why she left only that she was home. 

_ “I’ve messed up everything!” _

If he didn’t know better he’d think she stayed put for him, to make it easier for him to find her but he did know better and Sara had blatantly challenged him. She knew he would never back down from a challenge and neither would she. 

With that in mind he hopped a plane to Star City and now here he stood, watching the young blonde woman, dancing by herself in the crowd of patrons in her childhood friend’s nightclub. He’d spotted her sister off to the side with a few of their friends. They were keeping an eye on her. None of them knew the kind of woman she had become, how she’d straightened her life out since the last night they saw her. 

_ “I can’t be here anymore, I can’t bring you down anymore.” _

_ “You’re talking nonsense. You’re my sister. I love you. I will always be here for you. I’ll help you.” _

_ “You always help me, Laurel. You shouldn’t always have to do that. I just can’t do this anymore.” _

_ “Do what Sara?” _

_ “Pretend to be the daughter dad wants or the sister you deserve.” _

She may not have turned her life around in the way they expected but he knew if they could see everything that he got to see they would be proud of her. 

Leonard stepped off the platform and onto the dance floor, pushing through the bodies and taking great care to keep his eyes on Sara. He could feel he was being watched, undoubtedly by her sister and company. He probably looked like a predator stalking toward Sara with her back to him. When he was close enough he reached out, gently taking her arm so as not to startle her. Sara pulled away, spinning around to face him and a small smile lit up her face when she realized who he was. 

Leonard smirked, holding a hand out to her. She took it, letting him pull her toward him and wrap his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. “I was wondering how long it would take you to find me.” she said when they were close enough not to yell. 

“Well, I’ll be honest, you kind of threw me off coming back here.” he told her as they started to sway to the rhythm. 

“What can I say. You guys kind of got to me I guess. When we all went our separate ways I… missed having people around. I missed having people who mean something to me around.” 

Leonard smiled. “That’s a good thing you know?” she nodded. 

“I missed all of you.” she continued. “I missed you.” 

“Well I’m here now.” he told her and her smile widened. 

The song changed, and a quicker beat started up much to Leonard’s chagrin. Sara laughed at his disgruntled look as they were jostled from all sides. “Come on!” she called out over the music, taking his hand and pulling him toward the edge of the dance floor. Once out of the crowd Sara pulled out her phone and shot off a text then put the phone back and took his hand again tugging him behind her right out the front door. 

Leonard took the lead then, leading her to his car parked not far away. “Where to?” he asked assuming she had a place in mind when she started all this. She pointed out the way which led to a dinner not more than a few blocks over. They went inside and made themselves comfortable in the red vinyl booths, ordering sloppy, greasy cheeseburgers and milkshakes that were too big for either of them to finish alone, but they tried anyway. They sat there for hours, laughing and talking and just enjoying each other’s company as they always did and for those few hours they forgot about everything. His losses and hers; the past slipped away and they just lived in that moment.

The diner closed up around two a.m. and Leonard drove Sara back to her sister’s apartment where she was staying while in town. He walked her to the door, both very conscious of the fact that for the first hour at the diner they had had an audience and now, they were standing outside a door with said audience on the other side. They had both caught the shadows of feet moving underneath and bit back amused smiles. 

“So, are you doing anything tomorrow?” he asked. She shook her head. 

“Not that I’m aware of. Probably just ducking more not so subtly veiled questions from my father about the last few years.” Leonard chuckled. 

“Well, then, maybe you could find the time to go look at a few places for our new offices.” 

She looked at him confused. “New offices? Here?” he nodded. 

“I think it’s time we moved on and Star City is just as good a place as any.” he told her. 

“I thought you would’ve wanted to go back to Central.” 

Leonard shrugged. “Now that all that business is behind me, my sister moved to Midway City, there’s nothing there for me anymore.” 

Sara smiled. “Okay.” she replied. 

“Great, we’ll get things squared away here and then call everybody in.” 

With that they said their goodbyes, mindful of their audience, sharing a hug before Leonard left. 

When he was gone Sara entered the apartment to find her sister and their friends in the living room doing their best to seem nonchalant. “Hey, we were starting to worry about you.” Laurel told her as she entered. 

“Okay let’s be serious here. I think the only question we want answered is, who was the hot guy you ditched us for?” Thea asked. Sara rolled her eyes. 

“He’s a friend.” she told them. 

“You sure about that?” Roy asked knowingly. 

She sighed walking further into the apartment and heading for the kitchen on the other side of the gathered group. “If you must know.” she began pouring a glass of water from the tap. “He’s one of my business partners.” she continued turning to face them while taking a drink. 

“Business partner?” Laurel asked confused. “You have your own business?” 

“It’s not my own business, the five of us are all equal shareholders, but yes, technically I own my own business.” 

“And what business is it? What do you do?” Sin questioned. 

“I guess the best way to describe it is, we’re a private detective agency, mostly pro bono. We help people who can’t help themselves.”

Laurel looked suspicious. “You’ve been here for over a month and you’re just telling us about this now?” Sara shrugged. 

“We disbanded not too long ago. Our last case kind of drained our accumulated resources and I wasn’t really sure we’d be getting back together so I didn’t say anything.” 

“But now you are?” Thea asked. Sara nodded.

“Yeah, Len and I are going to look for a new office space tomorrow.” 

“So, you're sticking around Star City then?” Laurel asked sounding hopeful. 

Sara nodded, smiling at her older sister, and for the first time in a long time she felt hopeful for the future. __

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr where I accept prompts [Dragongoddess13](dragongoddess13.tumblr.com/)


End file.
